Jet-setters pledge to ditch air travel to save the environment

The Bishop of London has done it. So have lawyers, teachers, gardeners and at least one MEP. The latest trend in jetting around the globe is: not jetting around the globe.

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A growing army of eco-refuseniks is making the ultimate sacrifice in the age of cheap air travel by pledging to give up flying and using slower modes of transport instead.

Research for the aviation industry estimates that up to 3 per cent of regular flyers in Britain have stopped boarding flights because of concerns about the environmental impact.

The previously unpublicised findings from a survey for the British Air Transport Association (Bata), the trade body for UK airlines, found that a further 10 per cent of flyers - more than 20 million people - had reduced their air travel because of concern about climate change.

The data is bolstered by the popularity of a website run by environmental campaigners inviting travellers to take a pledge to stop flying altogether or restrict themselves to one long-haul or two short-haul flights a year. So far 1,240 people have given the undertaking, with nearly two-thirds (776) giving the "gold" pledge not to fly anywhere for a year. John Valentine, a south London stonemason and environmental campaigner who founded the site, said: "There is a need among people to be able to do something positive to cut their carbon emissions and reducing flying is the most obvious and significant way of doing it.

"It is very much a groundswell in the absence of the Government failing to take action. We have an addiction to flying which people want to kick. On top of those on the website there is a significant proportion of people out there who will be doing the same but choose not to go public."

Among those who have given public pledges not to fly are a range of professionals and a Plaid Cymru MEP, Jill Evans, who last month vowed to make one journey in four from Brussels to her Welsh constituency by train.

But the movement received its highest profile convert yesterday in the shape of the Rt Rev Richard Chartres, the Anglican Bishop of London, who last year said flying was potentially a "symptom of sin". The bishop said he had taken a "gold" pledge not to fly anywhere for 12 months, causing his staff to cancel a trip to a conference in north Norway because he could not get there by train. He will take his family holidays in Devon.

He said: "I have been trying to look critically at my carbon footprint. We all have to live responsibly. I can see myself spending a lot of time on draughty railway platforms."

With 228 million people passing through Britain's airports and an estimated 465 million expected by 2030, critics argue that the impact of those giving up flying is likely to be minimal.

Bata declined to comment on the findings of its survey, conducted by YouGov. But it found that 65 per cent of people had not changed their flying habits despite being aware of environmental concerns.

The alternatives

* TAKE THE TRAIN

Trains produce a third of the CO2 emissions of an aircraft and offer a "more intimate" form of travel by viewing the changing landscape. Eurostar claims that each passenger on a return journey from London to Paris produces 11kg of CO2, compared to 122kg by air.

* GO BY SHIP

It takes longer and is more expensive, but nothing can beat a cargo ship berth for low-CO2 travel. Together, shipping and rail account for only 1.75 per cent of global CO2. A 10-day voyage from Liverpool to New York costs £960 each way; the 36-day trip from the UK to Sydney is £2,800.

* ON YOUR BIKE

Bicycle trips in London have grown by 50 per cent since 2000, and the National Cycle Network now accounts for 232 million journeys a year. The bike is hardly an alternative to air travel but in terms of a zero-emissions journey it is untouchable.